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by southerntofu 1579 days ago
Well if you're ready to spend a month's salary on a phone, you'll probably get better hardware/software from Fairphone or Librem. Pinephone is also an option (at a more accessible price point) but it's still in some kind of beta where random users who just want to take photos and have a long-lasting battery are not the target audience.

I know many people who use Fairphones and they've never been disappointed. You can still find the spare parts, remove the battery, and setup the OS you want. Be careful though the "setup your own OS" part may not be supported for a few months after a new model comes out so be sure to check the compatibility list on lineageos.org.

Unfortunately to my knowledge all other vendors are just scammers who will sell you half-functioning phone due to spyware bundled as part of the system (just try to remove Google Play Services :)) where you can't unlock the bootloader to setup your own system.
1 comments
FearlessNebula 1575 days ago
Strictly speaking about repairability, yes. But in terms of performance, specs, camera, etc. Samsung / iPhone of 5 years ago is still ahead of the Fairphone and co
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southerntofu 1575 days ago
That's correct but misleading. First because we don't need all this raw power, and as much power as we give our devices, all of it will be (ab)used according to Wirth's law [0].

Second, because this is primarily due to economies of scale and predatory behavior from economic giants: if consumer/environmental protections don't outlaw ethical abuses from the few corporations who capture the market (see also planned obsolescence [1]), the "ethical" alternatives are always going to be more expensive and less attractive.

Third, because there are simple ways to have a strong impact immediately. For example, by forcing all hardware manufacturers to publish the entirety of their data sheets / schematics / research, you'd find a much better OS support for older devices (and new devices too), which would bring a practical incentive (cost) to use older hardware which currently has to be thrown away (for example if the OS does not support newer TLS standards [2]).

The situation is only bad because we let it be. Going with big tech for short-sighted, individualized gains, fails to address the elephant in the room that we as humanity can do so much better and everyone would be better off.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirth%27s_law

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

[2] https://f-droid.org/pt/2020/05/29/android-updates-and-tls-co...

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